Bloodless

This is literally the first negative review I've left on a game, and it's one I'm doing because while I love most aspects of this game, late game combat is absolute trash, particularly in the optional Arenas. It got bad enough that I just put the game down entirely. The game is rough from the beginning, with hitbox issues that become apparent pretty soon. Despite the game having what appears to be a kind of isometric perspective, attacks that should logically miss you because you're "behind" enemies (primarily thrusts and vertical cuts) will hit you anyway because the hitbox is the entire slash, regardless of relative position. One can get used to this pretty easily, but when the game introduces un-parryable attacks (henceforth, Red Attacks) the issues get worse. Unlike Sekiro (which this game is clearly trying to emulate with it's timing heavy gameplay), there are only two ways to avoid these attacks: interrupt them or dodge out of the way. The main issue here is that soon enough this will become dodge only except in specific circumstances, due to a combination of factors. First, interrupting doesn't always work. The game will literally refuse to acknowledge you've struck an enemy in the correct timing (which is itself very hard on later enemies) and their attack will go through all the same. Second, your reach is pitiful, and many enemies will step back before initiating a Red Attack. While on early enemies this is easy enough to keep up with, late-game enemies will initiate Red Attacks from beyond your field of view, cross half the entire screen and hit you anyway. There is a special technique to aid with this, but the timing to use it to interrupt is even harder than normal interrupts. All of this gets even worse when you consider arenas will pit you against multiple enemies at once, and those enemies will have no qualms in spamming you with attacks at the same time. In the early game this is manageable because Red Attacks are scarcer, and you can actually parry multiple attacks with a single input if your timing is right. But as the game progresses, you will be spammed with Red Attacks and White attacks at the same time. Because the main character has a serious recovery time between punches and parrying, there is no way to deal with these situations in any meaningful manner except trying to separate groups, which gets tedious really fast. Especially when late game enemies have dash moves with a lot of range that can quite literally phase through walls and obstacles. To top it all off, the game makes the mistake of making an enemy's health and posture the same bar, and it recharges when they deal damage to you. This is fine on paper, but when an enemy recovers in one hit what took you 3 entire combos to whittle down, it just keeps adding onto the pile of issues that make late-game encounters frustanting. In Summary: the game's presentation, music and story are serviceable to great, but while the gameplay is rough around the edges and enjoyable in the beginning, late-game design choices make the experience ten times more frustrating than challenging, souring the whole game.

The best Sekiro-like out there. The fact that it's so unknown is baffling.

Possui boa história e uma arte única mas o ponto forte do jogo pra mim foi o combate, com mecânicas diversificadas o combate se torna algo bastante dinâmico e engajante, fazendo com que você queria otimizar a sua jogabilidade ao máximo, quase como um jogo de luta. Se você está na dúvida se vai gostar ou não desse tipo de mecânica a versão demo é um ótimo exemplo do que virá a ser todo o decorrer do jogo. Um ponto negativo pra mim foi o comportamento de alguns inimigos em grupo, sinto que em alguns casos você é obrigado a ficar por muitos minutos sambando ao redor dos inimigos visto que não há abertura para contra atacar um golpe branco meio a tantos outros golpes vermelhos que se sobrepõem. Todavia momentos assim não estragam o restante do jogo. Recomendo!

Com certeza o melhor jogo indie que já joguei, o jogo é simplesmente perfeito!!!

Having just finished the game for the first time, I can safely say that this is one of the best games I have ever played. The unique style of combat where you are trying to disarm everybody is a really cool concept and it is pulled off exceptionally well here. Your timing has to be pretty spot on to take down the enemies, almost as if this is a rhythm game, but there is more to it than just timing button presses. You have to keep an eye on your cooldown meter for stamina, you need to utilize the skill (basically subweapons) to wear down your opponents, you need to keep an eye out for hazards in your vicinity, and you have to master the ways these enemies will attack you. A lot of the enemies have aggro phases, that will keep you on your toes. The beauty behind the game is the mixing and matching of enemy types together and some of these combinations are insane to behold at first, but eventually you can figure out these wild challenges. Besides the combat, the game has an interesting story, well written dialogue, and characters that make you either love or hate them. I generally skip the text in most games, but this one had my attention the whole time. The pixel art is great and the color palettes are chosen well for each area. The music was perfect and mostly subtle, but there are moments where it gets intense as well. The whole package is very tastefully presented all around. One last thing I would like to mention is that there is a lot of additional content besides doing the main story. There are side quests, treasure to find, and a crap ton of extra challenges to test your skills, including a boss rush. I honestly give this game a 10/10 and would recommend it to anybody who likes top-down action games that will be challenging, but in a fair way.

Amazing hidden gem. Love the unique look to it.

The use of color is quite striking in this game. It's also got a neat gameplay hook, where you need to end fights peacefully by disarming opponents.

Если вы любите механику парирования также как и я — Bloodless вам понравится. Но хочется предупредить о паре косяков. Игру делала бразильская студия на 8 человек, поэтому огромное количество потертостей, вроде невозможности сменить раскладку клавиш при игре с клавиатуры. По сравнению с первыми двумя часами, большая часть игры выглядит пустой. Не хватает и диалогов, и сюжетных событий, и дополнительных квестов/активностей. Да и многие персонажи паршиво раскрыты из-за недостатка хронометража. В бою я постоянно натыкался на различные проблемы с хитбоксами и регистрацией попаданий, но не уверен проблема ли это игры, или моих рук. Визуальный стиль интересный, но иногда геймлейные элементы весьма трудно считывать. Если вас это не отпугнуло, взять с распродажи — самое оно для данной игры.